I never thought of it that way before.

Up until very recently the convergence has been only a dream, but not really practical in real world. It is coming closer, though: most cell phones have decent cameras now, and that's an example of the most succesfull convergence IMO. The real problem in convergence is not so much technical as it is behavioural: people have certain behaviour patterns and expect certain devices to work in certain ways, and providing a user interface for all that has been extremely challenging. But, with the proper use of touch screens it is now a major step closer, and I'm not talking only about the iPhone. The DS/DSi also have great UI possibilities.

There have also been recent major breakthroughs in battery technology, and when those become available on the consumer market, the last big technical hurdle will be history. It may take years for them to reach mass markets, however...

This is a great example of cherry picking. So because the horribly designed POS N-Gage didn't sell people hate convergence devices? Look at iPod, or phones and compare them to 5 or 10 years ago. Notice anything? Yeah they have cameras, games, video, web browsing. Look at consoles, they have similarly evolved. The point is not that the DSi is doomed without Skype. That is insane. What I was suggesting is that Nintendo should begin to build a platform for the future. Apple and Sony have started doing that, and so has Ninty. In 15 years I highly doubt anybody will be still carrying around a 1 purpose gaming device.

The N-GAGE has existed in multiple iterations and failed every time. And that's not the only device I mentioned. Thanks for cherrypicking your argument.

I do agree that convergence is the right way to go, but Nintendo has shown - through their success - that it's got to be done slowly. Converging too quickly is a recipe for failure, because it typically means that things become complicated too quickly, consumers become confused, and devices turn out more expensive than people like. Those are the reasons the N-GAGE failed, why the PSP has lost its momentum so quickly, and why the PS3 failed to take off. They all tried different methods of convergence in ways that didn't work for the general public.

The point is that convergence has to be done right, or it will prove to be a tremendous failure. Nintendo is aware of that, so they're being cautious. Perhaps they're being too cautious, but you can't blame them. Not being cautious enough has proven to cause failure after failure.

It is a good thing when companies learn from their mistakes...